Hawaii volcano eruption: LAST group of evacuees rescued HOURS before lava cuts off road
THE LAST group of evacuees from on the eastern tip of Hawaii’s Big Island have been evacuated by National Guard troops, police and firefighters just hours before lava from the Kilauea volcano severed all road access to the area, officials said.
By MATT DRAKE
Express.co.uk
Sun, Jun 3, 2018
A stream of lava as wide across as three football fields flowed over a highway near a key junction on the outskirts of Kapoho.
The final phase of the evacuation was carried out on Friday night and early Saturday by fire and police department personnel, with help from the Hawaii National Guard and public works teams.
Civil defence spokeswoman Janet Snyder said estimated 500 people live in the greater Kapoho area.
But she added it was not immediately clear how many residents chose to stay behind.
Kapoho is a seaside community of private homes and holiday homes which were rebuilt after a destructive eruption of Kilauea in 1960.
The lava flow left Kapoho and the Vacationland development, which is around 500 homes in total, cut off from the rest of the island by road.
Authorities since Wednesday had been urging residents of the area to pack up and leave before lava spewing from a volcanic fissure at the eastern foot of Kilauea reached the area.
Another 2,000 people have already been evacuated from the Leilani Estates subdivision, an area further west where dozens of homes have been devoured or cut off by rivers of red-hot molten rock streaming over the landscape since May 3.
Toxic sulphur dioxide gas emitted from the volcanic vents in the ground which has added more danger.
Also volcanic glass fibres, called “Pele’s hair”, produced by lava fountains and carried aloft by the wind have made it more hazardous.
They are named for the volcano fire goddess of Hawaiian myth.
The lava has also knocked out telephone and power lines and forced the shutdown of a geothermal energy plant.
The latest upheaval of Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, comes on the heels of an earlier eruption cycle that began in 1983 and continued almost nonstop for 35 years, destroying more than 200 dwellings and other structures.
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